ShawnAshmore

It's not every day that a Canadian actor goes from small bits of work to a gigantic acting gig within a matter of days, but that's what happened to Shawn Ashmore. One minute he's playing Terry Fox in a made-for-TV movie, and then the next he's cast as Iceman in the 'X-Men' trilogy, acting with juggernauts Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, and Hugh Jackman. While Ashmore is content to star in a variety of projects - whether they're big-budget or low-budget - he's always proud of his Canadian roots, and finds a distinct pleasure in working at home.

Most people know Shawn Ashmore as the 'ice guy' from the 'X-Men' movie franchise. Playing the role of Bobby Drake/Iceman, Ashmore starred alongside Anna Paquin as her sometime-love interest. Now Ashmore is back to basics, and to Canada, in the TV miniseries 'Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures' on HBO Canada.

Based on the Giller Prize-winning short story collection by Canadian author Vincent Lam, 'Bloodletting' follows a group of characters as they navigate the seven-year journey through medical school. While the book itself is chronological, the cleverly-crafted miniseries weaves in and out of the past and present as it pieces together their lives.

Ashmore plays Fitz, a lovelorn, wayward doctor with an alcohol problem. He is tortured by memories of his ex-girlfriend Ming (Mayko Nguyen), who happens to work at the same hospital along with her husband, Chen (Byron Mann). The miniseries is dark and brooding, and it touches on issues that the average person can relate to – love lost, confusion about one's career, difficulty having a baby – and Ashmore's wavering depiction of a man flailing in early adulthood is spot on.

AOLTV.ca sat down to talk with Ashmore about the project (which he executive-produced), and what it was like to tap such raw emotions onscreen.